MTL runs a single shared web server, and a single shared Anonymous FTP server. Users and research groups within MTL may create and maintain web pages, which can be accessed by anyone on the web. This page contains information to help you get your own pages set up, and answer frequently asked questions related to the MTL web server as well help you transfer files using the MTL's FTP services.
The MTL web pages are accessible from all MTL unix machines in the directory /u/www/htdocs . For example, the URL http://mtlweb.mit.edu/index.html corresponds to the unix file /u/www/htdocs/index.html .
An important exception to this convention is the location of the user web directories. In this case, each user (who requests one) has a directory /u/www/htdocs/users/your-user-id , which is accessible by the web URL http://www-mtl.mit.edu/~your-user-id . For example, an individual user with MTL userid "janedoe" may create a file which she wants the world to be able to access in /u/www/htdocs/users/janedoe/smile.html; this file would have a corresponding URL http://mtlweb.mit.edu/~janedoe/smile.html
FTP, or File Transfer Protocol, is the means by which large files can be moved back and forth between computers. Rather than send a large file via email, which may not be allowed or may cause problems along the way, large files can be directly transferred to our Anonymous FTP server as long as there is sufficient diskspace to hold the files. This protocol is not secure, so this is only allowed on ftp-mtl.mit.edu, our designated Anonymous FTP server.
MTL's Anonymous FTP server has a large amount of diskspace, so this should not be a problem, but the disk where your home directory resides may have limited free space, so you should verify that you have enough room for the files before you try to move them there.
On a UNIX machine, the command df -k . will tell you how much space is available in the current filesystem. The command ls -la reallybigfile will tell you how large the file called reallybigfile is. You can type man df or man ls at the UNIX prompt to see more information about these commands.
The following two sections are step-by-step instructions on how to use MTL's Anonymous FTP server. They assume access to the Anonymous FTP server using a UNIX machine at MTL. The ftp command is also available on Windows machines, but the rest of the commands require the UNIX operating system. Also, the /u/ftp filesystem mapping is only available on MTL UNIX machines.
cd /u/ftp/pub mkdir bmaloney
cd ~bmaloney cp reallybigfile /u/ftp/pub/bmaloney/reallybigfile
chmod 644 /u/ftp/bmaloney/reallybigfile
ftp ftp-mtl.mit.edu Connected to MTLSRV5.mit.edu. 220 ftp-mtl.mit.edu NcFTPd Server (free educational license) ready. Name (ftp-mtl.mit.edu:bmaloney): anonymous 331 Guest login ok, send your complete e-mail address as password. Password: 230-You are user #1 of 20 simultaneous users allowed. 230- 230- Welcome to the anonymous ftp server for 230- the MIT Microsystems Technology Laboratories 230- 230- Your session is being logged. If you do not like 230- this, log off now. 230- 230- thank you, system-admin@mtl.mit... 230- 230- 230- 230- 230 Logged in anonymously. Remote system type is UNIX. Using binary mode to transfer files. ftp> ls 200 PORT command successful. 150 Opening ASCII mode data connection for /bin/ls. incoming lost+found motd pub 226 Listing completed. 33 bytes received in 0.031 seconds (1.04 Kbytes/s) ftp> cd pub/bmaloney 250 "/pub/bmaloney" is new cwd. ftp> ls 200 PORT command successful. 150 Opening ASCII mode data connection for /bin/ls. reallybigfile 226 Listing completed. 15 bytes received in 0.00073 seconds (20.07 Kbytes/s) ftp> bin 200 Type okay. ftp> get reallybigfile 200 PORT command successful. 150 Opening BINARY mode data connection for reallybigfile (2097152 bytes). 226 Transfer completed. local: reallybigfile remote: reallybigfile 2097152 bytes received in 1.1 seconds (1819.79 Kbytes/s) ftp> quit 221 Goodbye.
bmaloney@mtl-apps 62 % cd /u/ftp/pub/bmaloney bmaloney@mtl-apps 63 % ls reallybigfile bmaloney@mtl-apps 64 % ls -la total 4120 drwxr-xr-x 2 bmaloney mtl 512 Apr 12 16:12 . drwxrwxr-t 101 root mtl 2560 Apr 12 15:53 .. -rw-r--r-- 1 bmaloney mtl 2097152 Apr 12 15:54 reallybigfile bmaloney@mtl-apps 65 % rm reallybigfile bmaloney@mtl-apps 66 % ls -la total 8 drwxr-xr-x 2 bmaloney mtl 512 Apr 13 13:09 . drwxrwxr-t 101 root mtl 2560 Apr 12 15:53 .. bmaloney@mtl-apps 67 %
bmaloney@mtl-apps 61 % ftp ftp-mtl.mit.edu Connected to MTLSRV5.mit.edu. 220 ftp-mtl.mit.edu NcFTPd Server (free educational license) ready Name (ftp-mtl.mit.edu:bmaloney): anonymous 331 Guest login ok, send your complete e-mail address as password Password: 230-You are user #1 of 20 simultaneous users allowed 230- 230- Welcome to the anonymous ftp server for 230- the MIT Microsystems Technology Laboratories 230- 230- Your session is being logged. If you do not like 230- this, log off now 230- 230- thank you, system-admin@mtl.mit... 230- 230- 230- 230- 230 Logged in anonymously Remote system type is UNIX Using binary mode to transfer files ftp> bin 200 Type okay ftp> ls 200 PORT command successful 150 Opening ASCII mode data connection for /bin/ls incoming lost+found motd pub 226 Listing completed 33 bytes received in 0.027 seconds (1.20 Kbytes/s) ftp> put reallybigfile 200 PORT command successful 553 Permission denied; you may only upload to an "incoming" directory ftp> cd incoming 250 "/incoming" is new cwd ftp> put reallybigfile 200 PORT command successful 150 Opening BINARY mode data connection 226 Transfer completed local: reallybigfile remote: reallybigfile 2097152 bytes sent in 2.8 seconds (722.09 Kbytes/s) ftp> quit 221 GoodbyeWhen they have finished uploading the file to the ‘incoming’ directory, they should let you know and then you will be able to cd to /u/ftp/incoming and copy the file to your home directory (or any directory where you have write permission). Don’t forget to remove the file from the ‘incoming’ directory when you are finished.
bmaloney@mtl-apps 62 % cd /u/ftp/incoming bmaloney@mtl-apps 63 % ls -la reallybigfile -rw-r--r-- 1 root mtl 2097152 May 9 16:01 reallybigfile bmaloney@mtl-apps 64 % cp reallybigfile ~bmaloney bmaloney@mtl-apps 65 % rm reallybigfile rm: reallybigfile: override protection 644 (yes/no)? yes bmaloney@mtl-apps 66 % cd ~bmaloney bmaloney@mtl-apps 67 % ls -la reallybigfile -rw-r--r-- 1 bmaloney mtl 2097152 May 9 16:36 reallybigfile bmaloney@mtl-apps 68 %
How do I make a large file available to a person outside of MTL (Windows users)
From inside 18.62 (the MTL network)
1. Right-click over 'My Computer'
2. Choose 'Map Network Drive'
3. Enter: \\mtl-home\ftp
4. Navigate to the mounted drive and click on the pub directory
5. Create a new directory for your username in the pub directory
6. Copy the file(s) that you wish to share to that directory
From outside 18.62
1. Using an ssh-enabled terminal emulation package like SecureCRT, connect to a general-use MTL UNIX machine, like mtl-apps.mit.edu or mtl-home.mit.edu and login as yourself.
2. cd to /u/ftp/pub - this step mounts the ftp filesystem on the MTL UNIX machine.
3. create a new directory for your username in the pub directory
4. Using a secure FTP client like SecureFX or WinSCP, connect to the same general-use MTL UNIX machine you connected to in step 1 and log in as yourself.
5. Using the client's GUI, navigate to the directory you created in step three and transfer the file(s) that you wish to share to that directory.
How does a person outside of MTL access the files that I want to share? (Windows users)
1. Using an FTP client like SecureFX or WinSCP, the person outside of MTL connects to ftp-mtl.mit.edu and logs in as: anonymous
2. The person outside of MTL enters their email address in the password field.
3. The person outside of MTL navigates to the directory named pub
4. The person outside of MTL navigates to the directory named for your username
5. The person outside of MTL copies the file(s) that you wish to share from that directory
How does a person outside of MTL make a large file available to me? (Windows users)
1. Using an FTP client like SecureFX or WinSCP, the person outside of MTL connects to ftp-mtl.mit.edu and logs in as: anonymous
2. The person outside of MTL enters their email address in the password field.
3. The person outside of MTL navigates to the directory named incoming
4. The person outside of MTL copies the file(s) that they wish to share to that directory
When they have finished copying the file(s) to the ‘incoming’ directory, they should let you know and then you will be able to navigate to the 'incoming' directory and copy the file to your home directory (or any directory where you have write permission). Don’t forget to remove the file(s) from the ‘incoming’ directory when you are finished.
1. Right-click over 'My Computer'
2. Choose 'Map Network Drive'
3. Enter: \\mtl-home\ftp
4. Navigate to the mounted drive and click on the 'incoming' directory
5. Copy the file(s) from that directory
6. Remove the file(s) from that directory
In addition to the anonymous FTP server at MTL, MTL also maintains secure FTP access to its UNIX machines. The following steps are a general guideline on how to use this secure FTP service.
